By CHARLES POPE, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

Published 9:00 pm, Sunday, March 14, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Gary Putman is an accomplished mechanic with bills to pay and a business to grow.

Yet more and more these days, he's forced to wave customers away from his popular shop in West Seattle. He literally can't crack the computer code he needs to diagnose and fix an assortment of maladies ranging from climate systems to brakes to electrical glitches that commonly strike late-model cars.

"If you don't have the code, you lose the job. They have to go to the dealers. It's an illegal monopoly, in my opinion. It happens enough that it's a real problem," said Putman, who owns Westside Import Repair.

Putman isn't alone. Across the nation, professional mechanics and weekend tinkerers alike are confronting a new reality in today's highly computerized cars -- to fix the car, you first have to be able talk to the computer. And that's where the trouble starts. More often than not, the code is in a language understood only by auto manufacturers.

"There is stuff I can't do," Putman said. "There is information that's never been released on systems like automatic climate controls. The information for that is a dealer secret."

Even locksmiths are annoyed because these days the keys to some cars contain computer chips, and to replace them, a locksmith needs the correct code.

Putman, 49, has been tinkering with cars since he was 12, and history shows he can fix almost anything. But like independent mechanics nationwide, he's frustrated and blames automakers for "hoarding" crucial information that's needed to fix today's highly computerized cars.

The grumbling has gotten so loud that Congress is stepping in. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would require the automakers to provide the data to anyone who needs it. It would apply to any make of car sold in the United States.

"You don't want technology to destroy competitiveness," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who offered one of the bills. "There's no reason ... you shouldn't be able to take your car to anyone you want rather than there being only one option."

Graham's bill would essentially give the codes to the person who buys the car, allowing him or her to control the information and offer it to whoever is selected to make the repair. The bill also calls on the Federal Trade Commission to oversee the disclosure and mediate disputes.

The goal, Graham said, is to improve consumer choice, trigger more competition and, with luck, reduce the cost of some repairs.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, has introduced a similar bill in the House that has attracted 86 co-sponsors, including many Democrats.

On the other side are the automakers and auto dealers who adamantly insist they are providing all the information mechanics and consumers need. And, a spokesman warns, if a law is passed that mandates cooperation, automakers could withdraw from a year-old voluntary program that he says has worked well.

Automakers are fighting the legislation; they believe the real goal is to obtain proprietary "calibration codes" that are the blueprints for how parts are made. With that information, Territo said, independent mechanics and parts manufacturers could duplicate major components such as fuel injectors that automakers have spent millions of dollars developing.

"A calibration code is what makes that part work, and that's the part that's proprietary," Territo said. "It's like the difference between an Apple microprocessor and an IBM microprocessor.

"The only people who have the calibration codes are the manufacturers, and they are locked away in some secret storage," he said. "Time and time again over the years, the aftermarket industry has attempted to get those codes. And time and time again, the courts have said that's not for you; it's the intellectual property of the manufacturers."

Sandy Bass-Cors, president of the Coalition for Auto Repair, an umbrella group representing mechanics and the "aftermarket" industry, dismisses that charge. The auto industry, she said, is holding back the codes because it wants to increase the revenue that dealers collect for fixing cars.

"We are not seeking proprietary information," she said.

"People are keeping their vehicles longer, so then the car companies have to make that up in repairs. What they're trying to do is corner the market."

It's a very big market. Analysts estimate that more than $200 billion a year is spent on car repair and upgrades. Once a car is out of warranty, Bass-Cors said, independent mechanics claim about 80 percent of the market.

No one is disputing the technological tidal wave that has washed over cars and trucks since 1994.

Former President Clinton made the transformation a mainstay in his stump speech when he ran for president in 1996.

"There is today more computer power in a Ford Taurus you drive to the supermarket than there was in Apollo 11 when Neil Armstrong took it all the way to the moon. Isn't that amazing?" Clinton would say.

For mechanics, however, the advancement has caused headaches, made worse by the difficulty in getting information from automakers. For owners, the cost of service has soared.

"There has been no effort in the auto industry whatsoever to manufacture anything that was based on longevity or simplicity," Putman said, calling today's cars "technological terrors. Complexity is now next to godliness. The more complex you can make it the better. The engineers are designing things to impress other engineers. I think it's out of control."

Despite the high stakes, people involved with the legislation on both sides doubt it will pass this year. The presence of powerful and wealthy interests on both sides of the question means that it will likely be locked in place, especially during an election year.

Putman thinks that would be too bad.

"If they freed up the information, it would make things better. It's not a cure-all, but I'd support any legislation aimed at better access to the dealers' trick secrets. It would improve the scope of cars that I can easily repair, no doubt about it."